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(N0 Modl.)

T. G. BENNETT. LEVER LOCKING MEANS FOR FIREARMS.

No. 589,687.- Patented Sept. 7,1897.

UNITED STATES PATENT CE TEE.

THOMAS G. BENNETT, OF NEIV HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO- THE \VINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

LEVER-LOCKING MEANS FOR FIREARMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 589,687, datedSeptember 7, 1897. Application filed June 14, 1897. Serial No. 640,619-(No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS G. BENNETT, of New Haven, in the county ofNew Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement inLever-Guns; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of IO thesame, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, in-

Figure 1, a broken view, in side elevation, of one form which myimprovement may assume; Fig. 2, a broken view of the rear end of theoperating or finger lever of the gun, the said end of the lever beingshown in vertical section; Fig. 3, a reverse plan view of the said endof the lever; Fig. 4, a view corresponding to Fig. 3, but showing amodification; Fig. 5, a reverse plan view of Fig. 4; Fig. 6, a viewcorresponding to Figs. 3 and 4, but showing another modification.

My invention relates to an improvement in .that class of portablefirearms called lever- 2 5 guns for the reason that they are operated bya swinging lever, the object of the present invention being to providefor automatically locking the levers of such guns in their closedpositions in such a manner that they may be unlocked without appreciableeffort.

\Vith these ends in view my invention consists in the combination in alever-gun,with the swinging operating or finger lever thereof, of alever-hook mounted in the said lever 3 5 and comprisinga beak, andalongrearwardly extending tailpiece which is arranged to lie along the innerface of the outer portion of the bow of the said lever, and means withwhich the beak of the said hook is automat- 4o ically engaged when thelever is brought into its closed position.

My invention further consists in certain details of construction andcombinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed outin the claims.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown I employ a lever-hookconsisting of a forwardly turned beak A and a long rearwardly-extendingtailpiece A, the outer end of which is bent or turned upward. I employthe term leverhook because the hook is mounted in the lever and holds itin its closed position. The beakA of the said lever-hook is located in avertical or substantially vertical slot 13,.formed for its reception inthe base 5 5 of the bow B of the operating or finger lever, which alsocomprises a bowed shank B and two arms B the extreme forward ends ofwhich are connected in any approved manner with the reciprocatingbreech-bolt C. By forming the slot for the reception of the beak of thehook in the base of the bow of the operating-lever I am enabled not onlyto secure ample room for the reception and operation of the beak of thehook, but also to locate the same in such a way that it will be wellprotected and in such a position that it will be highly effective in itsresistance to the tendency of the lever to be started into its openposition by the recoil following the firing of the gun. The saidlever-hook is hung upon a horizontal pin D, passing transversely throughthe base of the bow l3 and the vertical slot B, formed therein, asaforesaid. The tailpiece A of the hook lies along the inner face of theouter portion of the bow B, the said portion of the bow being groovedand slotted for the partial reception of the tailpiece, the end of whichis held against lateral deflection bythe side walls of the slot b whichit lies in. As shown, the bow is formed for the purpose just mentionedwith slots b, l), and b and with grooves 11 and b. For making thelever-hook yielding as well as for maintaining it in its locked positionI employ a small plunger E and a spiral spring E, which encircles it,the said spring and plunger bein glocated in a pocket E formed in theshank B of the operating or finger lever, and the plunger being engagedwith the heel A of the lever-hook at a point below the horizontal pin1), on which the same is swung. It will be seen by reference to thedrawings that the said spring exerts a constant effort to throw the beakA of the lever-hook forward.

The forward edge of the beak A of the lever-hook is constructed with anundercut a and a rounded operating-face a, adapting the beak to bereadily engaged with arearwardlyturned fiXed frame-hook F, which dependsI00 from the wrist portion of the frame of the gun and which I call theframe-hook, be cause it depends from the gun-frame.

In speaking of the frame-hook as depend ing from the gun-frame I mean tocover the idea of its dependence from any fixed portion of the gun inright position for being engaged by the lever-hook and do not limitmyself to securing the frame-hook to any particular portion of the gun.The rear edge of the said frame-hook has an undercut f and a roundedoperating-face f, which respectively coact with the undercut a andoperating-face a of the lever-hook. frame-hook is suspended so as to befixed in position from a pin F, mounted in the tang F of the gun, thesaid hook being located in the rear end of the long slot F formed in thesaid tang to receive the link G, the rear end of which is pivotallyconnected with the said tang by a pin G, while its forward end isconnected by a pin G with the arms B of the operating or finger lever inthe usual manner. I do not, however, limit myself to any particular wayof supporting the frame-hook F so long as the same is located inposition for its engagement by the lever-hook when the operating orfinger lever is swung into its closed position.

When in the operation of closing the gun the operating or finger leveris brought by the hand of the user of the gun nearly into its closedposition, the operating-face a of the beak A of the yielding lever-hookengages with the operating-face f of the rigid framehook. The spiralspring E, encircling the plunger E, which engages with the heel A of thelever-hook, is then compressed, allowing the beak of the said lever-hookto swing rearwardly until the undercut a of the leverhook is broughtinto line with the undercut f of the frame-hook, when the spring Ereasserts itself and effects the engagement of the two hooks, wherebythe lever is positively locked in its closed position, in which it willbe held with obvious advantage against the recoil following theexplosion of a cartridge in the chamber of the gun-barrel. \Vhen theuser of the gun desires to open it again, he exerts a slight pressurewith the backs of his fingers upon the long rearwardly-extendingtailpiece of the leVer -hook,whereby the light coiled spring E iscompressedand the leverhook swung rearwardly and disengaged from the frame-hook, thus unlocking the operating or finger lever and permittingit to be swung into its open position. The effort required for operatingthe lever-hook preparatory to the opening of the gun is so slight as tobe almost inappreciable and the action is so simple and natural and socompletely in accord with the movement required for swinging the leverinto its open position that after a little practice it will be doneunconsciously by the user of the gun.

As herein shown, the said structed with a beak H and a longrearwardly-extending tailpiece H and operated by means of a fiat springI1 instead of by a spring-actuated plunger. The said fiat spring H isinserted at its forward end into the heel of the hook and has its rearend arranged to lie in a groove I, formed in the outer portion of thebow I of the lever, the outer end of the outer portion of the said bowbeingformed with a long slot I Fig. 5, for the reception of the rearportion of the tailpiece of the hook.

In the construction shown by Fig. 6 of the drawings the lever-hook iscomposed of a beak J and a long rearwardly-extending tailpiece J andoperated by a fiatspring J practically corresponding to the spring Hbefore mentioned. In this construction the tailpiece lies along theouter portion of the bow K of the lever, the said outer portion of thebow not being slotted, but being formed with a long shallow groove K,upwardly turned at its rear end for the reception of a finger J formedat the extreme end of thetailpiece J of the lever-hook for preventingthe said end of the tailpiece from being laterally defiected.

The modified constructions shown by Figs. 4 and 5 and by Fig. 6 are bothadapted to operate with rigid frame-hooks corresponding to theframe-hook F herein shown and de-' scribed or to any equivalent thereof.

In View of the modifications suggested and of others which may obviouslybe made I would have it understood that I do notjlimit myself to theexact construction herein shown and described, but hold myself atliberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fall within thespirit and scope of my invention. Thus my improved lever-hook may beused with any form of frame-hook or equivalent thereof and in any of thedifferent forms of lever-guns, not being limited in use to a gun likethat shown in the drawings.

Having fully described my invention, what I claimas new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a lever-gun, the combination with an operating or finger leveradapted at its forward end to be connected with the action.

mechanism of the gun, and formed at itsrear end with a bow; of alever-hook located within the bow of the operating-lever and formed atits forward end with a beak and having a long, rearwardly-extendingtailpiece which is arranged to lie along the inner face of the outerportion of said bow; and means con.- nected with and depending from theframe of the gun with which the beak of the hook is automaticallyengaged when the lever is brought into its closed position. 7

2. In a lever-gun, the combination with an operating or finger leveradapted at its forward end to be connected with the action mechanism ofthe gun, and furnished at its rear end with a bow, the base or forwardend In the modified construction shown by Fig. of which is formed with avertical slot; of a 4 .of the drawings the lever-hook is conlever-hookcomprising a beak located in the said slot upon al1ol'izontaliy-arrang'ed pivot, In testimony whereof I have signed thisand also comprising a long, rearwardly-exspecification in the presenceof two subserib- IO tending tailpiece lying along the inner face lngWitnesses.

of the outer portion of the bowand aframen r T rwr hook depending fromthe fraine of the gun LENLEI for being engaged by the beak of the lever-\Vitnesses hook when the lever is brought into its closed v DANIEL II.VEADER,

position. THOMAS C. JOHNSON.

